briefing – afghanistan working to bring peace and …...2016/12/08 · working to bring peace and...
TRANSCRIPT
Working to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan
NATO has assumed a leadership role in providing security in
and around Kabul in Afghanistan, in what is the Alliance’s
first mission beyond the Euro-Atlantic area.
in N A T O j
development”
This groundbreaking operation demon
strates NATO’s resolve and ability to
address new security challenges and
take on new missions and is clearly of
benefit to all involved: to Afghanistan
and its people, the United Nations and
the wider international community, and
the NATO nations and their Partners.
NATO formally took over the
International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF), a UN-mandated
force tasked with helping provide
security in and around Kabul, on
11 August 2003. According to ISAF’s
operational commander, General Sir
Jack Deverell, this step was “a mile-
n
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“NATO’s enhanced role overcomes the problem
of a continual search every six months for
a new lead nation”
stone in NATO’s development
representing a real break from the
NATO of the past to an Alliance
which is more relevant and has
greater utility in the uncertain secu
rity environment of the future.”
ISAF was created by UN Secu
rity Council Resolution 1386 of 20
December 2001 to assist the recently
formed Afghan Transitional Authority
in the maintenance of security in
Kabul and its surrounding areas so
that the Transitional Authority and
UN personnel could operate in a
secure enviroment. Troop-contributing
nations were additionally called
upon to help the Transitional Author
ity set up new Afghan security and
armed forces. In effect, a three-way
partnership was established between
the Transitional Authority, ISAF
and the United Nations Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan to lead
Afghanistan out of three decades
of turmoil through a state-building
process to a more peaceful
and prosperous future.
NATO nations have at all times
contributed more than 90 per cent
of ISAF’s troops. The mission was
initially led by the United Kingdom,
then between June 2002 and
January 2003 by Turkey and between
February and August 2003 jointly
by Germany and the Netherlands.
This sequential approach to com
manding ISAF achieved impres
sive results on the ground but was
hampered by a lack of continuity.
It put great pressure on lead nations
who carried responsibility for ISAF’s
strategic direction, planning and force
generation as well as the provision of
essential operational capabilities,
such as intelligence and commu
nications. And, since lead nations
were only prepared to carry such
responsibility for six-month periods,
there was no let-up in the quest to
identify new lead nations.
NATO first became involved in
ISAF in response to a request from
Germany and the Netherlands for
support in the planning and execution
of ISAF III. The Alliance’s assumption
of the strategic command, control and
coordination of the entire mission is,
therefore, a logical continuation of
this process. NATO’s enhanced role
overcomes the problem of a continual
search every six months for a new
lead nation. Moreover, the creation
of a permanent ISAF headquarters
adds stability, increases continuity
and enables smaller countries, which
find it difficult to act as lead nations,
to play a stronger role within a multi
national structure. ■
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NATO-led ISAF
“More than 30 countries are
contributing some 5,500 troops
to ISAF”
The NATO-led ISAF will continue to use the same banner and
operate according to current and future UN resolutions. The current mandate limits ISAF operations to Kabul and the
surrounding areas. Any extension of the ISAF mandate would
require a UN Security Council resolution and, since NATO now
exercises the leadership of ISAF, a decision by the North Atlantic
Council (NAC), the Alliance’s highest decision-making body. To
strengthen international support for the Transitional Authority, NATO has started considering whether and how ISAF’s mandate
might be expanded.
The NAC will provide political direc
tion to ISAF, in close consultation with
non-NATO ISAF troop-contributing
nations, following well-established
practice derived from the experience
of the Alliance’s peacekeeping op
erations in the former Yugoslavia.
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers,
Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium,
will assume the strategic responsi
bility of operation headquarters and
host the ISAF international coordina
tion cell, while Headquarters, Allied
Forces North Europe (AFNORTH) in
Brunssum, the Netherlands, will act as
the operational-level Joint Force Com
mand headquarters between SHAPE
and ISAF headquarters in Kabul.
NATO is providing a composite head
quarters to form the permanent core
of the ISAF headquarters. This draws
on AFNORTH’s subordinate commands
and, in particular in the first instance,
on the Joint Command Centre in
Heidelberg, Germany, which has pro
vided German Lieutenant-General Gôtz
Gliemeroth to be the first NATO ISAF
Force Commander.
More than 30 countries are contribu
ting some 5,500 troops to ISAF In
addition, the ISAF Force Commander
in Kabul has access to the vast pool of
staff expertise available in Heidelberg,
Brunssum and Mons. Through this
“reach-back” capability, he will be able
to draw on specialised assets in such
areas as strategic planning without
having to deploy them into Afghanistan.
As a result, without requiring a larger
force on the ground and with only a
small NATO footprint in Kabul, ISAF
0
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Hindu Kuch
AFGHANISTANPopulation: approx. 28 million (June 2003)
Area: 650,000 km2
Land boundaries:China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Ethnic groups:Pashtun 44%, Tajik 25%, Hazara 10%, Minor ethnic groups (Aimaks, Turkmen, Baloch, and others) 13%, Uzbek 8%
will have an enhanced capability to
plan and conduct operations.
Although NATO has extensive peace
keeping experience on which to draw
as a result of its operations in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Kosovo and the for
mer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*11,
taking command of ISAF represents a
new departure for the Alliance. It is,
however, a natural manifestation of the
Alliance’s transformation agenda and
a demonstration of member states’
resolve to meet new security chal
lenges.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks
against the United States of 11 Septem
ber 2001, NATO invoked Article 5, its
collective defence provision for the first
(1) Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name.
time in its history and embarked on a
comprehensive reform process to en
sure that the Alliance was as equipped
to deal with the security threats of the
21st century as it had been in the last.
At their Reykjavik meeting in May
2002, NATO foreign ministers decided
that: “NATO must be able to field forces
that can move quickly to wherever they
are needed, sustain operations over
distance and time, and achieve their
objectives.” This seminal decision
effectively paved the way for the Alli
ance to move beyond the Euro-Atlantic
area, including to Afghanistan. The
Alliance’s Prague Summit of Novem
ber 2002 put in place the programmes
necessary to give the Alliance the
capabilities required to take on new
and potentially far-away missions.
“NATO must be able to field forces that can move qu ick ly”
□
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Ultimate aim
NATO’s ultimate aim in Afghanistan is to help establish the
conditions in which Afghanistan enjoys a representative
government and self-sustaining peace and security. ISAF has
already contributed to the progressive development of national Afghan institutions, notably by helping train the first units of the
new Afghan National Army and national police.
Lord Robertson: “ The sooner we’re
not necessary in Afghanistan, the better,
but we are now part and parcel of the country’s future”
Now, ISAF and the Afghan National
Army routinely conduct joint patrols
in the streets of Kabul, projecting a
positive image of teamwork and part
nership. In addition, hundreds of civil-
military projects involving ISAF are
under way in the areas of local admin
istration, infrastructure reconstruction,
rehabilitation of schools and medical
facilities, restoration of the water
supply, health, eduction, and agricultural
technical assistance, instilling a new
sense of hope among the civilian popu
lation in and around Kabul.
Great challenges, nevertheless, remain.
The terrorist threat to ISAF is a major
source of concern. Moreover, persistent
Taliban and al-Qaida activity in southern
and south-eastern Afghanistan and
factional in-fighting in the country’s
northern provinces undermine ISAF’s
mission by creating a climate of uncer
tainty. The drug trade, organised crime
and the poor state of local infrastruc
ture remain longer-term challenges for
Afghanistan and the international com
munity working to rebuild the country.
While the task of rebuilding Afghanistan
is primarily one for the Afghans them
selves, NATO can help create through
ISAF the stability that is a pre-requisite
for successful reconstruction. In the
words of NATO Secretary General
Lord Robertson: “NATO does not take
on operations to fail. NATO has to suc
ceed and we’re determined to succeed.
The sooner we’re not necessary in
Afghanistan, the better, but we are now
part and parcel of the country’s future.”
For more information on ISAF, see www.nato.int/issues/afghanistan/index.htm
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I S *International
Secoirity IB Assistance
Force
The International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF) has a peace-enforcement
mandate under Chapter VII of the UN
Charter. It was created in accordance
with the Bonn Conference of December
2001 at which Afghan opposition
leaders gathered to begin the process
of reconstructing their country. Its tasks
are detailed in a Military Technical
Agreement of January 2002 between
the ISAF Commander and the Afghan
Transitional Authority. These include
assisting the Afghan Transitional
Authority in the maintenance of
security in Kabul and its surrounding
areas so that the Transitional Authority
and UN personnel could operate in a
secure environment.
ISAF also assists in developing
reliable security structures; identifying
reconstruction needs; and training
and building up future Afghan security
forces. Three UN Security Council
Resolutions, 1386, 1413 and 1444,
relate to ISAF, but it is not a UN force.
Rather, it is a coalition of the willing
deployed under the authority of the
UN Security Council, supported and
now led by NATO and financed by the
troop-contributing nations.
In the wake of the ouster of the Taliban,
Afghanistan was one of the poorest
countries in the world as a result of more
than two decades of fighting, repressive
rule and the aftermath of war. Since
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in
1979, more than two million Afghans
are estimated to have been killed and
many times that number wounded
or maimed for life. Afghanistan is the
most heavily mined country in the
world with an estimated five to seven
million land mines and 750,000 pieces
of unexploded ordnance. According
to the UN Development Programme,
70 per cent of Afghanistan’s 22 million
inhabitants are malnourished and life
expectancy is 40. The World Bank
estimates annual per capita GDP to be
about $200.
In December 2001, Afghan opposition
leaders met in Bonn to set up a new
government structure for their country,
specifically the Afghan Transitional
Authority. In June 2002 a national
Loya Jirga, a grand council specific to
Afghanistan, took place giving the
Transitional Authority 18 months in
which to hold a national Loya Jirga to
adopt a constitution and 24 months in
which to hold national elections.
The Loya Jirga is scheduled for
December 2003 and national elections
for June 2004. The international com
munity pledged $4.7 billion for the
first three years of reconstruction at a
donors’ conference in Tokyo in January
2002 to be administered by the World
Bank.
NATO Briefings address topical Alliance issues. They are published under the authority of the Secretary General and do not necessarily reflect official opinion or policy of member governments or of NATO.
NATO Public Diplomacy Division, 1110 Brussels - Belgium, web site: www.nato.int, e-mail:[email protected]
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